The Final Step
by easytodancewith
Summary: Written in a similar vein to A Single Step, which illustrates "missing" Callie/Cole scenes from episode 1x12, A Step Back, which looks at the events of 1x13 from Cole's perspective, and The Next Step, which depicts Callie's take on what happens in 1x14. This fic covers the events of 1x15 and 1x16.


Callie looks beautiful in black.

Cole kind of feels bad for thinking so, given the reason she's even wearing the color in the first place, but as she does her makeup in front of the mirror while he watches from his bed, he can't help but admire the slope of her back and the way her dress hugs her curves.

"Are you…" he begins, aiming for nonchalance but finding it hard to mask the fact that he cares. He clears his throat. "Are you gonna be OK today? At the, uh, funeral?"

She turns to face him, and the edges of her mouth quirk into a quizzical smile. "Not like it's my first."

She'd fleetingly mentioned her mom's death during group - it was an unfortunate commonality she shared with Gabi - but never offered any details.

"No, I - I know," Cole stutters, and hates himself for it. He's been tripping over words in her presence ever since the kiss, which Callie has yet to acknowledge even happened. At this point, he's pretty sure she kissed him out of pity, or maybe she just felt bad for not telling anyone about the hormones that landed him in the hospital, but he doesn't want to ask for fear that he won't be able to handle a definitive answer.

Callie turns back to the mirror, smoothing her hair nervously. "I'm mostly worried about my brother."

Over the time he's known her, Cole has learned that the best way to get Callie to talk is to let her do so at her own pace. He stays silent, watching her critically regard her reflection.

"Jude took our mom's death really hard; he kind of freaked out and destroyed my room," she elaborates, shaking her head as if trying to dispel the image from her mind's eye. "I had these down pillows, and there were feathers _everywhere_. I just hope he's OK today."

Cole stands up from the bed, and their eyes meet in the mirror.

"I admire you for going," he tells her quietly, stepping forward to rest his hand on the small of her back. "I know it can't be easy after… your mom... but I'm sure it'll mean a lot to Jude."

Callie leans her head on his shoulder and nuzzles his plaid shirt with her nose.

**xXx**

When Callie gets back from the funeral, Cole takes one look at her face and knows better than to ask how it went. He's stretched out on his bed, drawing, and when she appears in the doorway, he reads her expression, gives her a small smile and looks back down to focus on his sketchbook.

She wordlessly crosses the floor to her side of the room, shrugging off her cardigan before sinking onto the bed.

"So Brandon and I broke up."

Cole's pencil stills on the page. "I'm sorry," he murmurs.

"I mean, if I want Lena and Stef to adopt me, I can't exactly be dating their son."

Cole frowns, tilting his head to look over at her. "I thought you wanted to do the independent living program."

"I did," Callie says with a shrug. "I don't know, I just… Today made me realize that family's important, you know?"

He drops his gaze back to his sketchbook and stares at it in silence for a few moments. "Yeah."

"God, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking, I -"

"It's fine." Cole squares his jaw and pulls himself into a sitting position, hugging his sketchbook to his chest. "Not your fault my family doesn't want anything to do with me because of something I can't help."

"Cole…"

"Can I ask you something?" he cuts her off.

Eyes wide, she nods. "Anything."

"Did you kiss me because you felt sorry for me?"

"Cole."

He can feel hot tears pricking at his eyes and blinks furiously, willing them to subside before they fall. "Just tell me."

She stands, traversing the short distance between their beds as his heart pounds and pounds. "Can I sit?"

"Yeah."

She does. "I think you're amazing."

He lets out a small laugh. "But?"

She takes a deep, measured breath, then slowly exhales. "I told Stef and Lena I want to move back in with them, and they decided to give me another shot. I leave tomorrow."

Cole feels like he's been punched in the chest, but he forces a smile. "Then I'm happy for you."

**xXx**

"You're gonna be sleeping under the same roof as Brandon," Gabi helpfully points out to Callie during their next group session. Cole's stomach flips at the idea. "He's right nextdoor - you're not gonna be, like, lying awake, thinking you could just sneak into his bedroom?"

"OK, Gabi, enough," Rita interjects.

"Are you, like, really over him?" Kiara asks, and Cole's glad someone else asked the question that's been on his mind since Callie told him about the breakup.

Callie shrugs. "I know what I want."

Cole's been living at Girls United long enough to get to know Rita's expressions, and he recognizes the one on her face from the day he told her he was a boy.

"I mean, it's great that you're leaving here knowing what you want, it really is a good start, but it's easy to get confused," Rita warns. "You're not gonna have group twice a day; you're not gonna be confronted by any of these lovely ladies trying to get you to talk about how you feel."

"Gotta hold yourself accountable," Daphne chips in. "At least you've got people."

"You're lucky," Cole says quietly.

"A mistake most girls make when they go home is that they underestimate just how tough it's gonna be out there in the real world," Rita continues. "Why don't we go around now and everybody can tell Callie what it is they learned from her?"

Cole's heart starts pounding so hard that he can't hear Kiara, Gabi or Carmen's contributions, so Becka saying Callie taught her how to look "all blank and superior" is the first comment he registers - and then suddenly, it's his turn.

"Cole, you're up," Rita tells him, breaking the awkward silence that sets in after Becka stops speaking.

"I learned…" He trails off, forcing himself to look Callie in the eyes. _That you're an amazing kisser. That the sound of your laugh makes me shiver. That I'm jealous of Brandon not just for dating you, but because he'll get to be around you for the rest of his life._ "That you're my friend."

The smile she shoots him in response makes his heart sing.

"Callie, why don't you share with the girls what you learned from them?" Rita suggests.

"Um, yeah." Callie hates talking about feelings, and Cole can see her mentally psyching herself up for laying herself bare. "Well, you all, um, taught me what courage is. Every one of you, you're so… brave. And awesome."

She looks over at Cole when she says the last part, and he can feel himself beaming, wide and unguarded.

**xXx**

It's not as if Cole was in denial about Callie leaving, exactly, but none of it seems real until her full backpack is sitting on her bed and she's doing a final check of the room to make sure she hasn't left anything behind. He's racking his brain trying to come up with a brilliant parting comment, something pithy and witty and filled with meaning, but what comes out is, "Let me carry your bag."

She closes the last drawer she had left to check, then turns to him with a smile. "What a gentleman."

He shrugs, hoisting the backpack onto his shoulder. "I try."

"Hey…" She takes a tentative step toward him, grazing his arm with her fingers. "Thanks. You know, for everything."

"Do you mean shoving you in the bathroom or breaking up with your boyfriend via text?" he teases, and she rolls her eyes. "But, seriously - thank you, too."

"For pushing you into the shower door or almost getting you killed?" she asks, then giggles at the face he makes in response. Her laugh is infectious, but his chuckle dies in his throat as she presses her index finger to his bottom lip with a grin. "Um, one more for the road?"

It takes Cole a second to realize what she's asking, but once he does, he whispers "Yeah" immediately, and then her lips are touching his and it's like the two of them never left off the first time. He slides the tip of his tongue against the seam of her mouth, and as she yields to him, he recognizes the faint taste of the toothpaste Rita bought ten tubes of the last time there was a sale at the local store. When he rests his hands on Callie's hips, grounding her, she makes a small noise that causes a hot, liquid need to suddenly and insistently pool inside him, and for once - for_once_ - he doesn't completely hate having a female body, because he's pretty sure if things were different then his erection would be pushing against her thigh.

When they pull apart, Cole's breathing a little more heavily than normal and Callie's cheeks are flushed. They gaze at each other wordlessly, and Cole has so much to ask her but no words will come out.

"Callie!" Rita calls from downstairs, and the two of them instinctively step back from each other. "Stef and Lena are here!"

Nervous excitement flashes across Callie's face, and then she looks guiltily at Cole.

"It's OK." He smiles as genuinely as he can, then walks over to their bedroom door and holds it open for her. "Ladies first."

**xXx**


End file.
